At Telepylus 329
try to conceal the amount you were taking from the
very person with whom you were taking it openly.
Another point is that privation always upsets the
mental balance. A man who lacks food or money
finds very queer thoughts come into his mind, and
does things, not necessarily connected with his necessity,
obsessing though that be, which are entirely out of
keeping with his character.”
I took a pencil, and wrote at once against the cross
in column two “In order to make the most of Sister
Athena’s illuminating discourse.”
She laughed merrily.
“You see, it’s Adam and Eve all over again!
You're trying to shift the blame on to me. By the
way, I see your body is nervous at this moment. If
you don’t want to take heroin, as you don’t, else you
wouldn’t have let yourself get as shaky as you are,
you'd better take a white tablet. It won’t put you
to sleep, as you've had a night’s rest, and the poor little
thing won't have anything to do but run around your
solar plexus and stroke all your little pussy-cat nerves
the right way.” ;
I took the advice and felt much better. At that
moment King Lamus appeared, and challenged Sister
Athena to a set of Thelema. I brought Lou out; and
we sat in the courtyard and watched them play.
Thelema is so called because of the variety of strokes.
It is a sort of Fives played with an association football,
but there are no side walls, only a low wall at the back
over which, if the ball goes, it is out of play, as also if
it strikes outside the vertical lines painted on the wall
or below a ledge about a foot from the ground. The
ball may be struck with any part of the body so long
as it is struck clean, and the game is bewilderingly
fast to watch.
After two games, the players were perspiring violently.
The score was kept somewhat as in tennis, but each
point had a monosyllabic name to economise time.
It also had a certain startling implication—with the